I visited Detroit today, as a farm boy.

“Nigeria will soon become the biggest and only urea exporter in sub-Saharan Africa for the first time,.. And we are not only exporting, we are exporting big time. ” – Aliko Dangote.

By far, the most important industrialization project in Nigeria today is the Dangote Refinery project. At least in the short- and mid-term horizons, the impacts could be catalytic and consequential. It is a perfect playbook of playing upstream, driven by accumulated capabilities. The Dangote Refinery is the Nigerian Project because the government has none, and we can all go with it. It is a big call: US$15 billion is massive and could change the destinies of people, at scale.

But this is reshaping, just like most BIG Nigerian projects. After a webinar this week, this refinery project is now coming live in 2021. Recall, it was billed for a 2016 launch, then 2019 and now 2021! Some think 2023 …This project has to work. “Still, the project has been hit by delays with the initial opening date having been projected to be 2016, then 2019. Edwin said in a webinar on Thursday that the start of operations will now be pushed back to late 2021 due to the coronavirus. Citac says the facility is unlikely to start before 2023″, writes Bloomberg. While there are concerns, the Dangote Refinery, at least in the short term, is a promise.

The Dangote Refinery is “entering a very competitive market at a time when refining margins are being squeezed by the collapse in oil prices. In July, profit margins for refineries were at their lowest since 2010 and Patrick Pouyanne, the chairman of Total SA, described them as “absolutely catastrophic. To be successful, the refinery will also need to displace the cartels that have dominated Nigeria’s fuel-import business for more than two decades, a source of wealth for the politically connected and motivation for the continuing dysfunction of domestic refineries,” notes Bloomberg.

While this is a “Nigerian project”, the execution cannot be like Nigerian projects (think Ajaokua steel, Second Nigeria Bridge, etc). Mr. Dangote must make this project work, it cannot be delayed further!

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been vocally registering his dissatisfaction over the newly introduced changes Apple plans for its iOS 14 mobile operating system. The iOS 14 will prevent apps from tracking users using their unique device identifier without their explicit permission.

The advertising industry assigns a unique code to each device called Identification for Advertisers (IDFA). Advertisers use IDFAs to determine if their ads are effective, especially when the ad has been served in multiple places.

Facebook has been using IDFA to personalize ads in third-party apps, and Zuckerberg said the change in iOS 14 will halve his social media platform’s earnings.

“We expect these changes will disproportionately affect Audience Network given its heavy dependence on app advertising. Like all ad network on iOS 14, advertiser ability to accurately target and measure their campaigns on Audience Network will be impacted, and as a result publishers should expect their ability to effectively monetize on Audience Network to decrease,” Facebook said in a post on Wednesday.

“While it’s difficult to quantify the impact to publishers and developers at this point with so many unknowns, in testing we’ve seen more than a 50% drop in Audience Network publisher revenue when personalization was removed from mobile app ad install campaigns.”

Facebook said the change may even cause more revenue loss than it is anticipating and worry that the change will have crippling effects on small businesses.

“We understand that iOS 14 will hurt many of our developers and publishers at an already difficult time for businesses. We work with more than 19,000 developers and publishers from around the globe and in 2019 we paid out billions of dollars. Many of these are small businesses that depend on ads to support their livelihood,” Facebook said.

At the launch of iOS 14 next month, Facebook will be required to ask for users’ permission before it could be allowed to harvest personal data for targeted ads. Alternative to this procedure will require setting up a completely new advertising account to run campaigns for iOS users.

This development has limited Facebook’s ability to collect users’ data on Apple smartphones, and will have a serious impact on its campaigns. Though it can cope as the change does stop the collection of data from millions on its platform, ad-buying small businesses depending on the IDFA wouldn’t.

Over the last few weeks, Facebook has been in squabbles with Apple on two other issues. Adding this to them, the two tech giants appear to be out for a full blown discord.

Apple has had a gaming app (Instant Games) Facebook launched earlier in August blocked because the game app was offering alternative stores with content that it cannot vet. Facebook launched the app without gameplay functionality, and it can be used to watch streams of other people playing games.

Facebook had teamed up with Microsoft to criticize Apple’s game policies, as it has affected many other game apps launched on the Apple store. Apple kicked video game Fortnite out of its store, when Epic Games, the game’s creator, added a feature that allows players to buy virtual currency using their own credit cards, which denies Apple the opportunity to take its 30% cut.

In another case, Apple refused to waive fees for Facebook on its paid Online Events feature. The Online Event feature is designed to allow small businesses and individuals to organize paid digital events that Facebook users can sign up for and sell tickets.

Mac rumors reported that Facebook had asked Apple to waive the 30 percent fee it charges from the in-app purchases for Online Events or allow Facebook process events payments using Facebook Pay. Apple turned the request down saying that it goes against its policy and App Store guidelines.

Nevertheless, the disagreement escalated when Facebook decided to add a note in the Online Events feature to notify users that “Apple takes 30% of this purchase.” Apple got infuriated and removed the note, saying it violated Apps Store policy that forbids apps from showing irrelevant information.

Following these incidents, Zuckerberg said Apple is becoming monopolistic and anti-competitive, and its practices are becoming harmful to customers.

“Apple has this unique stranglehold as a gatekeeper on what gets on phones. Zuckerberg told more than its 50,000 employees during a Q&A session. He added that California-based company’s app store “Cupertino blocks innovation, blocks competition and allows Apple to charge monopoly rents.”

Earlier in the month, Apple became the most valuable company in the world with a $2 trillion valuation. Interestingly, Apple and Facebook are among the companies indicted in antitrust investigations of US regulators. Their current disagreements and accusations may well help the investigators.

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Just a few months ago, Apple presented itself as a vanguard of user privacy. That is an easy call when you deal with proprietary software packaged in an exclusive hardware with no advertisement. If that is the case, you certainly do not need to mine users’ data. Tim Cook, Apple CEO, explained that Apple would not sell your data, throwing it to Facebook and Google which need users’ data in their business models. Google tried to explain that using users’ data to subsidize services, or make them free, unlike fashionista pricing, legendary in Apple, was fair game. 

But Apple did not care, attacking Facebook and Google on their business models. But things seem to be changing – welcome to a new world. Yes, Facebook is playing a stunt game, telling the iOS world that Apple is taking a 30% cut on all in-app purchases, thereby reducing their take-home pays. Without warning, Apple banned the update.

Facebook Inc on Thursday told Reuters that Apple Inc rejected its attempt to tell users the iPhone maker would take a 30% cut of sales in a new online events feature, forcing Facebook to remove the message to get the tool to users.

Facebook said that Apple cited an App Store rule that bars developers from showing “irrelevant” information to users.

“Now more than ever, we should have the option to help people understand where money they intend for small businesses actually goes. Unfortunately Apple rejected our transparency notice around their 30% tax but we are still working to make that information available inside the app experience,” Facebook said in a statement.

Largely, Facebook is intentionally piling pressure on Apple, sustaining the Epic Games’ battle to see Apple drop its 30% tax on in-app purchases. Facebook has a message to Apple: do not think because you do not run ads, and accordingly will not need user data the way we do, that you do not have your own problems. Yes, if Apple waives its 30% (which will be an own-goal, as in African football), all products on Apple Store, possibly, will see reduced costs.

Left and right: nothing is perfect. It is simply a question of season and time. Apple is learning one thing: even asking people to pay, without the option of giving their data for freebies, may not be perfect.